Tuesday, July 7, 2015

June Road Trip

We went on a wild hair fun road trip in June. Trying to take some trips before kiddos are all grown up! We really like to be home, so this is a bit of a chore at the same time as being fun ad adventurous!!!

First we crossed the southwest on I-40 through the desert to Los Angeles. By the way the Mojave Desert is not a pretty one...

Mojave desert

Entering California, did you know you have to have vehicle inspected?

We went through Victorville, where Roy Rogers was from. (Very exciting for girls in car.)

Then over Cajon Pass, which was fun to drive and a bit scary with 4 narrow lanes, and huge semis, and side routes for in case their brakes fail, and a steep grade! Once through the pass it was our first ever sighting of LA!

I think this is still what it looks like pretty much, just wider lanes....

Then we drove straight to Newport Beach, and it was beautiful, first time for kids to see ocean, and probably the best part of our trip!

Loved having it almost all to ourselves! Catalina Island in the distance....

This part of beach was lined with houses about 50 or 100 yards back from the ocean:

The next day we went to Disneyland, and none of us would recommend it, although it was pretty fun in the morning...

LOL!!!

But when they say the crowd swells, its no joke at all...Then it was not sooo fun.

So back to the beach...

Balboa Pier (not my pic, it was overcast)

My pic as sun went down..

Kids on Balboa Pier ( it was stinky at the end full of immigrants fishing and sleeping, and whatnot. Surfers in background)

Then we left LA to check out Las Vegas, we drove through during the day and didn't stop....it was not that appealing to us with our 4 kids. I had the feeling like someone could get kidnapped into human trafficing any minute..

we drove through during daytime, so it didn't look like much..

much more awe inspiring at night, but we didn't hang around...

We headed out to Hoover Dam, and were impressed:

Last time i had been there was 20 years previous, and that bridge wasnt there...

uc

water is pretty low

And here are some dam tourist! (the most fun part is how everything is dammed)

And then on to the Grand Canyon, and it was very grand!

We decided after all the pics we had seen, it just doesn't encompass it. You just have to stand beside it to begin to grasp how amazing....

Then we did a little ziplining and resting in Williams,AZ. Cute little town, wished every shop wasn't exactly the same with their tourist knickknacks, but it was still really quaint. Lots of restaurants to pick from...